The Flying Canucks perform in front of City Hall as part of the Wintercity festival.......

As part of the Wintercity festival, France's Cie Carabosse are firing up hundreds of clay pots and metal sculptures, some of which are pleasantly warm to sit on. More images from this fiery spectacular after the jump.......

Feeling S.A.D.? Toronto's Christmas spirit wore off weeks ago and waiting outside for the streetcar has become more face-numbing than going to the dentist. Thankfully, the City of Toronto is stepping in to cure us of our winter blahs by organizing the 5th annual WinterCity Festival, which runs from January 25 to February 7 in Nathan Phillips Square. While the cool kids have probably already marked the free Saturday night concerts by Tokyo Police......

Andy Warhol's Factory parties were the ultimate hot spot for an elite cabal of celebrities, radicals, drag queens and porn stars. There has never been a better place to rock out while on an amphetamine high amid mass-produced silkscreen paintings and a fleet of floating silver balloons. Now, just replace Warhol's notorious gang of New York vagabonds with a bunch of over-stimulated children, and you have the idea behind Bunch's next edition of their popular......

Today is the last chance to see Gordon Halloran’s stunning Paintings Below Zero ice art installation at Nathan Phillips Square as part of the WinterCity festivities, so get down there already! Halloran’s unique technique involves arranging coloured panels of ice into abstract shapes that emphasize the ice's texture and natural crystalline structures. The piece evolves as the panels freeze and melt, colours blend together, and the opacity of the ice itself changes. Past installations......

WARNING: The following report may shock and offend some readers. The Toronto Hug Coalition, one of many local factions of the global Free Hugs Campaign, claimed full responsibility for Saturday afternoon's Hug Day uprising at Nathan Philips Square. Total strangers of all ages made eye contact, shyly said hello, and HUGGED each other while a band of young men called The Bicycles played indie pop music. Skating at the nearby rink was disrupted when......

The Gallerist is Torontoist's new bi-weekly arts listings. Starting January 31st, check back every other Wednesday for a new batch of events. Last Thursday local painter Colin Druhan hosted a busy and boozy reception at Katharine Mulherin's secondary space on Queen West. His work (see 'Hail Satan' at right) features mainly portraits of fashionable men and sinister women, but there are a few friendly looking dog portraits scattered within the small space. Sharing the gallery......

In concept, WinterCity has great potential. The city wants us to forget our winter blahs and get out and do stuff--free stuff, tasty stuff, new stuff...the cold-weather version of the summer's Celebrate Toronto Streets Festival. The Winterlicious lineup proves Summerlicious can be equalled in quality, and free entertainment is always a draw. But Toronontist regrets to report, in terms of showcasing our city's "vibrant arts scene" as promised...WinterCity has yet to deliver. My Life,......

"There is no love sincerer than the love of food." - George Bernard Shaw, playwright "Let your food be your medicine, and your medicine be your food." - Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine "Food is an important part of a balanced diet." - Fran Lebowitz, author "Mmmm...Food." - MF Doom, rapper As eloquent as the above quotes are, the truest expression of undying food-love is - and always will be - the passionate act......